Food and Drink > Lancashire Specialities > Morecambe Bay Potted Shrimps

Morecambe Bay Potted Shrimps

Bob Baxter's family has been potting shrimps for 200 years, he is the sixth generation. Whereas once the family ran their own boats, had a wet fish shop and employed a large staff, Bob is now content to buy in his shrimps, sell them from his freezer centre and has Kathleen and Doreen potting out back about 500 pots a day, in a small neat kitchen. The tiny brown shrimps are still processed in the same time-honoured way; caught in the sandy estuaries of Morecambe Bay from the traditional 25 foot boats, they are cleaned and boiled at sea in sea-water, peeled by the fishermen's wives and delivered within 36 hours of being caught to the door.

The potting of fish, meat or cheese is one of the great traditions in British cookery. Whatever is to be potted, the process is more or less constant; the minced, pounded or whole - in the case of shrimps- ingredient is seasoned with spices, pressed into a pot and sealed in clarified butter.